Film Noir Favorites

[m0nk]

The Big Sleep, 1946, Humphrey Bogart.

+1

 

[Guttersnipe]

Not noir, per se, but Man With The Golden Arm (1955) gets my vote. Definitely Frank Sinatra's finest acting work, I think. If fact, IMHO, his performance is better in MWTGA than in From Here To Eternity.

 

[topango]

The Killer inside me, It is a modern movie, little is left to the imagination and noir part is overwhelming

[video=youtube;Y1LXO5yfKJM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1LXO5yfKJM[/video]

 

[Heather]

The Killer inside me, It is a modern movie, little is left to the imagination and noir part is overwhelming

[video=youtube;Y1LXO5yfKJM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1LXO5yfKJM[/video]

My husband an I just watched this movie this week! So +1!

 

[Mahagonny Bill]

Ok, since people have started introducing neo-noir films, I'm going to take this thread completely off the rails and suggest The Yellow Sea (2010). This South Korean movie has all the elements of a classic film noir (Protagonist trapped in a situation beyond his control, making decisions he knows to be wrong but he is compelled to make, crawling through the underbelly of society) coupled with intense modern action. It is the hardest, most violent action movie I have seen in a long time, but thematically stacks up against any of the classic noir films. If you like watching Film Noir movies for the themes and not just the classic style, I highly recommend you put this on your list.

 

[decojoe67]

I love almost all Film Noir's of the classic era (1946-1955), but I have to put "Double Indemnity" at the top. It's excellence in cinematography!
Other top one's are:
Gun Crazy
Detour
Woman in the Window
The Scar
Laura
Dark Passage
Dead Reckoning
Criss Cross
Pitfall
The Killers
DOA

 

[Benzadmiral]

I have trouble calling "High Sierra" and "White Heat" (much as I love 'em both) "noir." They're pretty much films about professional criminals, gangster movies. Both feature strong character studies and emotional dimensions. But the dark undercurrent of people caught up in coils of intrigue isn't there. Such is my impression of "noir," anyway. And I haven't seen "High Sierra" in a long time.

On the other hand, I agree about "Blade Runner" -- a "future" noir. And don't forget "Body Heat," the cousin to "Double Indemnity."

 

[I Adore Film Noir]

I have trouble calling "High Sierra" and "White Heat" (much as I love 'em both) "noir." They're pretty much films about professional criminals, gangster movies. Both feature strong character studies and emotional dimensions. But the dark undercurrent of people caught up in coils of intrigue isn't there. Such is my impression of "noir," anyway. And I haven't seen "High Sierra" in a long time.

On the other hand, I agree about "Blade Runner" -- a "future" noir. And don't forget "Body Heat," the cousin to "Double Indemnity."

Teddy Lewis (Mickey Rourke) "Any time you try a decent crime, you got fifty ways you're gonna mess up. If you think of twenty-five of them, then you're a genius... and you ain't no genius. You remember who told me that?"

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

Of course your avatar starred in many of my favorites, such as Laura (1944), Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) and Leave Her to Heaven (1945) in which she plays a horrific villainess. Laura is actually one of my all-time favorite films. I should say, though, that although I love all film noir, I tend to like the ones from the early to mid-1940s best. Strictly speaking the genre reached its peak a little later, right after WWII.

Would you call Notorious (1946) film noir? I'm not sure, but it's in my top 10. Along similar lines, Spellbound (1945) (also with Ingrid Bergman) is another classic that might not fit easily into the noir genre, but is packed with nailbiting suspense and plot twists.

M (1931) is a brilliant movie, may have been the first in the genre.

Out of the Past (1947) has all the classic hallmarks of noir and Jane Greer as one of the greatest evil dames on screen.

The Big Clock (1948) is heartstopping -- twists and turns of plot until you can't take it any longer.

Fallen Angel (1945) isn't one of the best films in my list, but I had to include it because it's from the golden era and because I have a crush on Dana Andrews.

There are many more, but these are the ones that first spring to my mind.

You are right thanks for reminding me I totally forgot. I'll have to look around for these killer diller titles.

 

[Widebrim]

A couple I love but some could quibble if they were "film noir" or not:
Notorious
The Big Sleep

Not sure about Notorious, but The Big Sleep qualifies in many people's books.

There are so many, and many thus far have been mentioned. Decoy (Pathe'-Monogram, 1946) comes to mind, though, with perhaps the coldest femme fatale of them all, Jean Gillie.

Personally, my favorites include Double Indemnity, Murder, The Big Heat, My Sweet, Force of Evil, The Dark Corner, Where the Sidewalk Ends, DOA, Impact, Kiss of Death, The Crooked Way, Somewhere in the Night, The Blue Dahlia, Cry Danger, Johnny O'Clock, T-Men, Naked Alibi, Criss Cross, The Big Clock, and Murder, My Sweet. A couple of titles might not be considered Noir by purists, but I think they all fall within the "category."

 

[Widebrim]

Recently added Clay Pigeon (Bill Williams and wife Barbara Hale) to my favorites, as well as Backfire (with the perennial Edmond O'Brien, Viveca Lindfors, Dane Clark, and future musical star Gordon MacRea). Both are about recently hospitalized veterans, the first out to prove he didn't turn traitor in a POW camp, the second on a race to find out whether he hallucinated that his Army buddy was seriously injured, or if it really happened .

 

[Widebrim]

On a Don Castle kick. Recently watched "High Tide" (okay), "Roses are Red" (good), "I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes" (also good), and "The Guilty" (very good), all of them from Monogram, and the last two based on Woolrich stories. I would consider all of them to be low-budget Noirs. The ending of "The Guilty" really did catch me by surprise, because I thought that the typical Woolrich "twist" had already occurred. Castle had an easy air about him, and it's a shame that MGM and Paramount never used him as an A-lead.

 

[skyvue]

On a Don Castle kick. Recently watched "High Tide" (okay), "Roses are Red" (good), "I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes" (also good), and "The Guilty" (very good), all of them from Monogram, and the last two based on Woolrich stories. I would consider all of them to be low-budget Noirs. The ending of "The Guilty" really did catch me by surprise, because I thought that the typical Woolrich "twist" had already occurred. Castle had an easy air about him, and it's a shame that MGM and Paramount never used him as an A-lead.

I don't think I've seen a single one of those. Can you provide a source for viewing them?

 

[Widebrim]

I don't think I've seen a single one of those. Can you provide a source for viewing them?

Skyvue, all of them except the first can be seen on Youtube. The first (High Tide) might be available on Youtube, but I couldn't find it.

-Lee

 

[skyvue]

Skyvue, all of them except the first can be seen on Youtube. The first (High Tide) might be available on Youtube, but I couldn't find it.

Great, thanks!

 

[Widebrim]

Recently saw Desert Fury (1947, Paramount), with John Hodiak, Lizabeth Scott, Burt Lancaster, Mary Astor, and Wendell Corey. Perhaps the most daring Film Noir ever made, as regards the sexual ambiguity of four of the main characters (see Muller's book Dark City for more on this). Beautifully shot in Technicolor, everybody dresses fashionably for the desert, and Lizabeth Scott looks like a million bucks. The ending speech by Corey (in his film debut) especially reveals the emotional/psychological "dynamics" between his and Hodiak's character.

 

[skyvue]

I watched THEY WON'T BELIEVE ME (1947) the other night for the first time in many years. Quite good -- and fun to see Robert Young playing a philandering scoundrel just a few years before he starred in FATHER KNOWS BEST and was forever more typecast as the gentle and wise fatherly type.

 

[Widebrim]

^^I might have that film downloaded; have to check. Yeah, Young was typecast for ever, as was Huge Beaumont.

 

[skyvue]

^^I might have that film downloaded; have to check. Yeah, Young was typecast for ever, as was Huge Beaumont.

Yeah, it's fun to see Hugh when he pops up in old B&W movies, like THE BLUE DAHLIA.

 

[1mach1]

Angels With Dirty Faces 1938 Cagney, Bogart, O'Brien
Night and the City 1950 Richard Widmark